Thank you for visiting the ISU Ed. Leadershop. Our intent over the past few years has been to field-test community-engaged writings for PK-20 practitioner conversation -- quick, 5-minute "read's" that help put into perspective the challenges and opportunities in our profession. Some of the writings have remained here solely; others have been developed further for other outlets. Our space has been a delightful "sketch board" for some very creative minds in leadership, indeed.

We believe that by kicking around an idea or two and not getting too worked-up over it, the thinking and writing involved have even greater potential to make a difference on behalf of those we serve. In such, please give us a read; share with others. We encourage your thoughts, opinions, feelings, and reactions to our work and thank you for taking your time. You keep us relevant.

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Wednesday, August 27, 2014

From the Barber Shop

Please allow us at the ISU Ed. Leadershop to revisit something we shared with you in 2013.

Enjoy!

From the Barber
Shop

By Dr. Ryan Donlan

Assistant Professor

Department of Educational
Leadership

Bayh College of Education

Indiana State University

When a barber sits next to you in a
barbershop, awaiting his own haircut, you can plan on getting a good one,
yourself.

Good conversation, as well.

That was the case last Friday, during my
bi-weekly visit to Kent Taylor’s Barbershop in Terre Haute, Indiana.

The fact that my children, Sean and
Katelyn, were with me made a story told by the awaiting barber particularly
heartwarming, as my kids listened with interest. They loved the story, and I was surprised that
I hadn’t heard it prior.

I’m sharing this story, details added
from my subsequent inquiry, in this week’s Leadershop.I have often found that as teachers, we
borrow some of our better ideas from others.That is the case with me this week.

Maybe one of you or your teachers would
like to try this sometime.

***

A
high school social studies teacher in Arkansas got permission from her principal
and superintendent to start the school year without desks in her class.No desks were present as her first period
students arrived.

Students,
surprised and finding they needed to sit on the floor, asked their teacher,
“Ms. Cothren, where are our desks?”The
teacher responded, “You don’t get a desk until you can tell me how you earn one.”

Students
responded, saying, “I guess we’ll have to make good grades.”Ms. Cothren responded, “You need to make good
grades, but that’s not how you get a desk.”

Others
said, “It’s our behavior.We have to
behave, then you’ll give us a desk.”

“Well,
you better behave in here, but that’s not how you get a desk.”

When
the next period started, the process continued.Students found no desks and were unable to provide a sufficient answer
to the teacher’s satisfaction.And as
high school students would, they began calling their parents as this story is
told, probably with cell phones, saying “Ms. Cothren’s lost her mind; she’s
taken the desks out of the classroom.”

By
lunchtime, the news media was at the school, reporting on the event.In fact, all four local affiliates were on
hand with cameras.

Ms.
Cothren held her ground until the last class period.

At
that time, students arrived again to find, “What else?” … no desks.

They
sat on the ground and stood against the wall, as all class periods had done
before.

Ms.
Cothren said, “I guess I’m going to have to explain it to you.”

She
then opened the door.

Into
the classroom walked 27 veterans of the United States Armed Forces, each
carrying a desk.The veterans placed the
desks in rows, then moved to one side of the classroom.

Ms.
Cothren said to her students, “Guys, you don’t have to earn your desks after
all, because these guys already did.”

“Every
day you come in here and sit at these desk, I want you to never forget that
[your desks] may be free for you, but [they weren’t] to these guys and for some
of their friends who didn’t come back with them.

She
then encouraged her students to sit in their desks and make good on what had been
earned.

***

Now that’s darn good teaching, the kind
often talked on in Kent Taylor’s Barbershop, and barbershops around the country.

After arriving home from Kent’s that
afternoon, I found on-line, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee delivering
this story at a speech at a national event in 2007, [among other venues in
which he delivered it, I understand].I
tried my best to relay the quotations from his speech accurately.

“Many thanks” to the barber who shared
this great story with Sean, Katelyn, my barber Kent, the folks who were awaiting
haircuts, and me.

Who is Ms. Cothren?

Martha Cothren taught this great lesson
in 2005 on the first day of school in Joe T. Robinson High School in Little
Rock, Arkansas.

Thank you, Ms. Cothren, for this
incredible, teachable moment, and please extend my truest regard to the school
leaders who supported your innovation (and with leadership excellence, probably
grinned from ear to ear as the press gathered outside).

Dr. Donlan considers
veterans of the American armed forces true heroes, including his father and
father-in-law who served admirably overseas, the former at the Berlin Wall
helping others to freedom; the latter in Vietnam with his sweetheart, now “Grandma
Kathy,” awaiting his safe return.Please
feel free to contact Dr. Donlan with stories of darn-good teaching at (812)
237-8624 or at ryan.donlan@indstate.edu. Or … see him at the Barber Shop.

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